Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The other day there
was a shocking news of
a 23 year oldqualified engineer committing suicide in Bengaluru for the simple
reason thata crowhad sat on him twiceand this did notaugur well for him . This is a glaring
example of superstition embeddedin our psyche that no amount of educationand enlightenmentcan get us out of it.What worse could have happened to the guy ! This escapist attitudeis really unfortunate .One can be sorry for the hapless parents who
would have pinned hopes on the guy. There are many other superstitionsand false beliefslike a
cat crossing your pathwill
definitelyspoilyour chances of successat something for which you are venturing out . Ayoung
manonce misseda very important interview, as he kept waiting for another person to come and crossthe road asa cat had crossed his path.

But sometimes you have strong reasonstoharbor
such beliefs. Decades backan otherwise
very nice lady in the neighbourhood provedunlucky for me many a time ,
ascoming across her on an
importantdayin the morningwould spelldoom. Fortunatelyonce she was
not around during the time I was to appear for an interview . The fact in itself
boosted my confidence andI appeared for the interview andby chanceand luck got the job .

Therewas also a belief in old timesthatif the shadow of aflying bird called Huma fell on a person , he was sure to become a king, whateverhis antecedents and whoeverhisancestorsmight be.

Iwas born with the planet rahuin lagnaand
my grandfather would wax eloquent that one day I would become a celebrity or a big man . I became what I did but certainly not acelebrity.

Shakes peare always blamed‘ the stars above us ‘that
guide our destinyand contrary to this
there is afamous couplet :

Muqaddar ki khabar kya de ga sitara

Din-raatgardish
mein khud hai bichara.

Both these views
appearto be extremeand a golden mean needs be struckin between .

Monday, July 15, 2013

This
wasa frivolous piece of poetryquoted bya very well knownHindi author in
one of his books , which shows howsendingTaaror telegram was in voguein matters important and mundane alikesome decades back.

From today, i.e. 15th July, 2013 it is good byeto Telegrams , as theGovt . in their wisdom
have discontinuedthis - one time very important, but now renderedobsolete as also commercially nonviable – service thanks to other cheaper
andquicker means of instant
communication and transmission like
mobile phones and internet etc. There is hardly person , who has grown
up with me through the fifties , and has notfelt the importance of telegramsin day to day life. Little wonder that the
last day of this service sawa sizable number of peopleat many places rushing to the post offices and telegraph offices to send welfare messagesto relatives and near and dear ones , not only toavail the servicefor the last time but alsoto be able to keep the specimen of a
telegramas a memento or animportant relic of the past for the posterity. Some peoplewere also seen taking alongtheir kidsto showand apprise them of the
systemof sending telegrams.

Telegram has been rightly called
the harbingerof both good and badnews , mostly- I am afraid- bad news . The
mere arrival of amessenger or the
delivery man wouldcause goose bumps in
everyone in the neighbourhood ; it is
another matterthat sometimes the
telegram carried good news of a birth in
the family or in relation , a promotion, an appointment to a service of one of
the relatives, and last but not the
leastsafe arrival of a dear oneat the destination after a long journey. I have seenpeople rushing to an English knowingperson to read out the telegram when education
was not so common.

It is also true thatsometimes loud cries and wails were heard when the telegram carriedsad
and shocking news of anaccident or a
death . Once I hadto rush to thepost office to send a congratulatory Greeting message to an acquaintance who was getting married, leaving aside my personal bereavement. Telegram also
came handywhen due to some unavoidable and
compelling reasons, extension of leave was sought by sending atelegram . However one had to keepthe receiptsafein
tokenof having sent it – ताकिसनद रहे औरबरवक़्त ज़रूरत काम
आवे !

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

“BhaagMilkha
Bhaag “are the threelast parting wordsspoken bythe father ofMilkha singhakathe Flying Sikhexhorting
theunder 12 boyto make goodhis escape , when the fatherhimselfhad death staring in the
face and ultimately taking himd other members of the family during the 1947 holocaust called Partition . The movie slated to bereleased on 12th Julyborrows these very words for its title. It
is rare for a living legend likeMilkhatosee a film made on his life , times and achievements .The film also contains some rare vignettes from his life . All credit
toRakeyshOmprakash Mehra , the producer- director of
the filmfor thisunique venture as alsoto Farhaan Akhtarwho playsand relives the Legend on the screen. The movie whenitis
open topublic viewshould containmany lessonsforpresent day and buddingsports personsand others alike. Here’s one who without any lure of money or richestook to the racing track and brought laurels tothe Country. It is nice to hear from his
ownmouththat theepithet“ Flying Sikh “ was actually a compliment given byGeneral Mohammad Ayub the thenPresident of Pakistan. So much so for the admiration , praise and
accoladesthe Legend deserved and got .